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(No Model.)

F. A. COFFIN.

SLATTED DESK QURTAIN.

FZLW' Ira? Obj/Zia v 1 W C N, PEYERS, Phmwlillwgraphar. Walhington. ac.

NITE STATES ATENT Fries.

FRANCIS OOFFIN, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

SLATTED DESK-CURTAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,913, dated June 30,1885.

Application filed October 23, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANCIS A. (JOFFIN, a resident of Indianapolis,Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDesk-Curtains, a description of which is set forth in the followingspecification, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in theseveral figures of which like letters indicate like parts.

My invention relates to the construction of what are calleddesk-curtains in the trade, being shutters for rotary desks, composed ofpieces or slats hinging one upon the other and connected by flat stripsof annealed flexible metal, as hereinafter shown and described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan of my device; Fig. 2, an endview, and Fig. 3 a top view, of the same.

In detail, B is the bottom strip or head, made heavier than the slats,which are designated s, and are jointed so as to hinge upon each other,as shown in the end view, Fig. 2.

These slats are connected by three metal strips, in m m, one in themiddle and one at each end of the slats. The middle strip passes throughan opening .or slit cut in the center of each slat, is turned up overthe side of the top slat and nailed, as shown in Fig. 3, and at the bottom passes through a portion of the head-piece B, and then comes outthrough an opening in the side thereof and is nailed, as shown inFig. 1. Outer strips, 'm,.are let into grooves cut in the ends of theslats nailed over the side of the top slat, and are secured at thebottom by dowels D, which are driven into holes bored into each end ofthe head-piece B, these strips passing half-way around the dowel-pinsand extending a short distance below, as shown in Fi 2.

I am aware that flexible desk-curtains are not new, and only claim as myinvention the construction herein shown. They have been made of a seriesof slats fastened to strips of thin sheet spring-steel, as in the patentof Heymann, October 28, 1873; but the use of springsteel isobjectionable, because it does not allow the cover readily to conform tothe grooves of the desk, and the method of attaching the same to theunder side of the slats is not similar to my own, which consists inpassin g the strips through central and end grooves and securing themthrough the side of the bottom'piece by dowel-pins, as hereinbeforedescribed.

I am aware, also, that continuous sheets of flexible material have beenused in desk-curtains between slats and cleats, as in the patents issuedto F. H. Cutler, October 5, 1875, and A. Cutler, June 7, 1881; and I donot claim such constructions as my invention. WVhere such flexiblematerial is confined be tween cleats and slats, the latter have operatedas nippers, and the same is broken through between the slats; but myconstruction, by providing strips of flexible annealed metal to securethe slats together, and the peculiar method of uniting the parts bymeans of passing the strips through grooves, avoids the use of cleats orother devices for fastening these parts together, and the result is animprovement over previous devices in many respects.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is the following:

The desk-curtain composed of the head-piece B, slats s,hinging one uponanother, connected by metal strips let into grooves on each end of theslats and secured by the dowel-pin D, and a central metal strip passingthrough the slats and coming out of the side of the headpiece B, allcombined substantially as described.

FRANOIS A. COFFIN.

lVitnesses:

G. P. JACOBS, GEORGE LOEPER.

